Obnoxious Yankees Post #2

Last night Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig for the career hits record with the Yankees. Immediately preceding this Jeter had his longest hitless streak of the season, which raised the questions - was he pressing? We'll never know this for sure, one way or the other. But we humans tend to make inferences under such circumstances. The inference that some sports reporters made in Jeter's case is that there was so much publicity around this particular milestone - Lou Gehrig is a national icon, more for his farewell speech and the spirit it exemplified than for his accomplishments as a player - that Jeter became self-conscious and that caused him to under perform. Jeter's manager, Joe Girardi, said in a press conference that he didn't know whether Jeter was pressing or not, he had never seen him press before so didn't know what to look for, an artful dodge. The Army slogan, be all that you can be, is a useful admonition. But sometimes, it's hard to do. Jeter finally got it done. And, in case you wanted to know, the Yankees magic number is 14 - any combination of Yankee wins or Red Sox losses that adds up to 14 clinches the Division of the Yankees.

Tampa Bay Rays vs. New York Yankees - Recap - September 09, 2009 - ESPN